Jestersix

QT opinions

Blaise006

Blaise006

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Hope everyone is doing well!

I have a powder brown tang that has been severely stressed the past couple weeks due to aggression from tank mates nipping his tail and a recent move to a new house. He was QT’d about 6 months ago, was moved to a holding tank end of September, and then due to life events he was placed with fish I’ve had for years from a different system that was never QTd, and I know for a fact that tank had ick way back when.

I assume he would be my canary in the coal mine and all 15 of my fish should go through QT again before being placed in their new 250gal home.

However, even after being stressed to no end…. I can’t find any ick on any of the tangs.

My gut says take them through QT again, but they really seem ok and I don’t want to keep stressing them.

What would you do?
 
I would do whatever I can to destress the fish as fast as possible. Which to me is getting them in a tank with their own space and hides, with plenty of food options to fatten them up. I also think you won't be able to keep a 250 gallon system "clean" or ich free, so my opinion is to not waste effort on QT.
 
Srt4eric said:
Why qt? You're not introducing anything new. You know thier history.
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Cause I do want a new achillies.

For those that haven’t heard the sob story: The achillies was thriving in his tank before the move. He got stuck in a spot in the holding tank during the move and perished.

And I did introduce new fish when I combined systems into that garage floor holding tank.
 
Blaise006 said:
Cause I do want a new achillies.

For those that haven’t heard the sob story: The achillies was thriving in his tank before the move. He got stuck in a spot in the holding tank during the move and perished.

And I did introduce new fish when I combined systems into that garage floor holding tank.
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Buy it pre quarantined
 
Srt4eric said:
Buy it pre quarantined
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My concern is there is ick in the holding tank in my garage from when I combined the fish from the 125 gallon which I QTd everyone and the reefer 250 which I know had ick when I first set it up in 2019.

Plus I have everything I need to QT them, I’m just concerned about adding more stress especially when I have a PBT that isn’t showing any signs after 3 weeks of being in an elevated stress environment.
 
Humblefishs research about .TTM (Tank transfer method ) regarding ick is a good read on reef 2reef forum..About the least amount of stress in my opinion without chemicals but does involve using a couple smaller tanks flipping back and fourth in the process...That is if ick is the culprit and not something internal going on loosing his mojo not being able to ward off aggressive mates..
Best of luck
 
+1 on TTM. (bucket based)
You CAN have an ich-free 250G tank.
TTM is actually easier if you have a large display tank, because you can use tank water for buckets, and have zero acclimation issues.
Plus you likely already have a big mixing station.
 
rygh said:
+1 on TTM. (bucket based)
You CAN have an ich-free 250G tank.
TTM is actually easier if you have a large display tank, because you can use tank water for buckets, and have zero acclimation issues.
Plus you likely already have a big mixing station.
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Yes…this.
I would bet that I am Ich free from using the above method. Pretty much nothing wet would go in my tank that hadn’t been QTd.
 
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You can also put all the fish in one QT tank and zap the ich with Meteoplex, still have to leave the display fallow though. If the fish aren’t showing ich I would leave it alone. I had the Aquabiomics test show no ich in a tank with non QT fish that had just been healthy long enough that seems the ich went away on its own. But now I only buy QT fish because I don’t want to push my luck!
 
Thanks everyone for the input.

To clarify a couple things.

I had two tanks prior to my move to my new home. A 125 gallon that everything was QTd using Copper and/or TTM.

A second system that was 60 gallons which I am certain had ICK at some point in 2019, and never went fallow, but never had another break out.

Recently, I moved and it forced me to combine both systems into a holding tank. In that holding tank is a powder brown tang which I have always thought of as being especially susceptible to ick.

Those fish have been in that tank for about 3 weeks now and there is no sign of ick on any of the animals.

My feeling is even though no signs of ick have shown up, it’s probably best to QT everyone again.

On the other hand, I would like to reduce stress, and if the PBT isn’t showing signs that makes me feel like they are probably safe.

Curious how others would consider proceeding
 
Chromis said:
You can also put all the fish in one QT tank and zap the ich with Meteoplex, still have to leave the display fallow though. If the fish aren’t showing ich I would leave it alone. I had the Aquabiomics test show no ich in a tank with non QT fish that had just been healthy long enough that seems the ich went away on its own. But now I only buy QT fish because I don’t want to push my luck!
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Maybe an aquabimics test would be worth doing to save a month of qt
 
I like the aquabiomics twist to get some real data, even if it isn’t perfect. Too many things in this hobby are based on best guesses, oft-repeated “wisdom”, anecdotes, assumptions. Which frankly leads to a lot of extra stress and uncertainty.

If someone hasn’t been always QT’ing, hasn’t had signs of ich for years (or ever) and has a negative aquabiomics test, that would be very reassuring that you don’t have it active in your tank despite the common wisdom that you do.
 
JVU said:
I like the aquabiomics twist to get some real data, even if it isn’t perfect. Too many things in this hobby are based on best guesses, oft-repeated “wisdom”, anecdotes, assumptions. Which frankly leads to a lot of extra stress and uncertainty.

If someone hasn’t been always QT’ing, hasn’t had signs of ich for years (or ever) and has a negative aquabiomics test, that would be very reassuring that you don’t have it active in your tank despite the common wisdom that you do.
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Excellent point. An aqua biomics test could potentially save me a month of QT and adding stress to fish that have been through a lot with this move then I think it may be the best way to go. You’ve convinced me.
 
sorry to hijack the thread, I wonder where can you buy "QT'ed" fish? I don't think LFS can do it properly for you. "Used" fish? you don't know if it was treated or managed.
 
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